Reggie Watts is a Meme. No really, look it up. He’s not just a big-haired hilarious comedian and beatboxer and free-associating goofy genius who Conan has on whenever he can and who wows every possible kind of crowd from a stuffy art gallery to a stoned morass of hippies at Bonnaroo. He is also a psychical living walking-around meme. Every now and then his picture or a cartoon of his personage will pop up on 4chan or Reddit or Canv.as with no particular explanation–as if the poster just wanted to say, “Hey world: this exists!” And yet unlike a lot of other brilliant stream-of-consciousness avant garde comic improvisers that have been poked up into the mainstream consciousness Reggie always seems…relaxed. Whether he’s making up a dub song about handbags on live(ish) TV or roaring at an audience as an bonefide rock singer in his long time band Maktub (still not defunct as far as I know) Reggie just don’t give too much of a fuck.

This, more than the hair or the pure originality of his stage show or the singularity of his weirdness in the current comedy climate, this Total Chillax of his personality is what makes him so very special. That and the fact that peoples are Tumblring about him even meanwhile insofaras he is Tumblring about himself. Because he is a Meme.

On the occasion of his return to DC (many of us at BYT haven’t seen him since he first came down for the Bentzen Ball a few years ago), we spoke to Reggie about being super-recognizable, his favorite nonsense words, his least favorite stages to play, and a bunch of other stuff that he totally was laconic about. The flip side of being totally relaxed all the time is you don’t get the most effusive answers to interview questions it seems (particularly when the interviewer is gushing like a giant dork) but that’s a small price to pay for having an amazing figure like this dude on the scene. Go see him now before he becomes completely subsumed by the universe and is lifted into the stratosphere by a crowd of singing afro-robot-angels! By which I mean they will make a t-shirt with that on it, and you will buy one.

BYT: First of all I think a lot of folks around here remember when you came down to do Bentzen Ball in 2009 and crowds didn’t necessarily know who you were and you just blew everyone away–everyone was talking about your shows in particular.

Reggie Watts: Yeah I remember that. The show I mean. That was fun.

BYT: Sure….Then right after that was when you blew up–I started seeing your videos get circulated everywhere online and then soon afterwards Conan brought you around as the opening act of his tour and so forth. Now you’re a national phenomenon–that must be weird given how recognizeable you are as yourself at all times.

RW: Yeah I did get a little more recognition after that I suppose. (Phone Beeps) Hold on a second it’s my mom. (Goes away, comes back)

RW: OK.

BYT: How is your mom by the way?

RW: She seems to be pretty good.

BYT: That’s good. We’re jumping right to the hard questions here. So I ran into you at Bonnaroo in 2010. You seemed pretty comfortable in front of a bunch of drugged out, sun-burned rock fans. But there must be some places you’ve played that didn’t go over well–what’s the worst type of environment for what you do?

RW: I guess the only kind of stage I wouldn’t want to be on is like a big outdoor stage in some horrible fairgrounds. I have done that but I don’t want to make a habit of it.

BYT: Some comedians seem to freak out whenever a room isn’t exactly like a comedy club. Is it years of being a rock performer that makes you more comfortable in any space?

RW: For sure. I do like any kind of stage as long as its not some weird situation where it’s hard to get people’s attention. I’ll play almost anywhere.

BYT: Your improvisation sometimes seems to be founded on deconstructing language, exploring what is intrinsically silly about certain words or phrases without any context–were you the kind of kid who would say a word over and over again until it lost all meaning? Yoghurt Yoghurt Yoghurt Yoghurt…

RW: Absolutely! I used to fuck around with that a lot.

BYT: Are there certain words that you return to over and over again just based on sounds in your act? For it’s the combination “Chinese Food.” Something about that is just poetic.

RW: Consortium. Is a funny word. Most breakfast foods or pasty items are pretty fun to say.

BYT: As well as just saying the words Pastry Items.

RW: Yeah. Or small furry animals, any of those. Ferrets. Weasels. They are funny animals as well as funny words.

BYT: You speak several languages in addition to English right? Do you think that played any role in developing your wordscape style?

RW: Wordscapes?

BYT: I just came up with that. I think it’s accurate.

RW: That is awesome. What is the question though? I stopped listening after wordscapes.

BYT: Did you fluency in other language influence your early improvisational style? Or were you interested in language formally as well as music ever–did you do spoken word poetry or other kinds of creative writing stuff?

RW: Nope, never really was a writer. Even when I had to write lyrics to a song it wasn’t my favorite. I just like listening to language and repeating in back in my own dumb way.

BYT: You did the theme song to one of my favorite podcasts, Comedy Bang Bang. It sounded on the episode where you came up with three options for the song, it was like you just busted them out off the top of your head without even practicing them first, is that right?

RW: Yeah, I came up with them there in the studio. I just improvised them live on the podcast and everyone voted for their favorites.

BYT: Because you can sort of perform anywhere there must be some occasions when people surprise you with requests…GO DO YOUR THING NOW NO PREPARATION GO GO GO! Does that get weird?

RW: No, as long as it’s not too much of a forceful situation. On a radio or a TV show I know I’m there to perform so if someone asks me at the last minute to do something it’s not a big deal. It depends on the context.

BYT: But unlike Mick Jagger or, say, Demetri Martin–nobody’s going to stop them on the street or in a bar and go: “Do that thing you do, perform right here!”

BYT: Recently there was this video going around of your song being rapped by some My Little Ponies. This wasn’t surprising to me because I always see your image getting posted randomly to sites like 4Chan or Canv.as or Reddit, just as an image with no explanation. Are you aware of sites like that or do you stay away from the cauldron?

RW: Well. I mean, I love cauldrons. I do have google alerts so if something comes up I cheek it out. I’m not so Youtube crazy…if someone wants to show me something I will check it out or if I want to check something out quickly I will. But I never go through Youtube looking for “What’s the Hot Video right now” or anything. If I’m online it’s usually either for research or if a friend of mine sends me a link.

BYT: Well keep an eye out because I expect you’ll see more and more random images of you pop up on your google alert. You just have an eminently Photoshopabble visage.

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Hey, if you want to read an intreseting article about Reggie Watts spending his time recording the music for his good friend John Mulaney’s comedy special “New in town” you could read it HERE at MetroSonic Recording Studios’ blog.

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Norm Macdonald is best known for his 4 year stint on Saturday Night live where Chevy Chase noted he was the best anchor to ever grace the chair. He is

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Norm Macdonald is best known for his 4 year stint on Saturday Night live where Chevy Chase noted he was the best anchor to ever grace the chair. He is a favorite guest on Late Night shows, having performed the final stand-up set ever on David Letterman. Mr. Letterman referred to Norm as the funniest man in the world. Conan O’Brien also lists Norm as his favorite guest. After leaving SNL, Norm starred in 2 movies, one being the cult classic “Dirty Work” and also appears in many Adam Sandler films, including his first “Billy Madison”, where Norm played Adam’s best friend. Norm also starred in 3 television series. This year he became a judge on “Last Comic Standing” as well as portraying Colonel Sanders in an avant-garde Series of spots for KFC. His tour-de force anti comedy roast of Bob Saget became an instant classic, as well as the five- minute “Moth Joke” on Conan which received a full one-minute laugh. These, though, are only experiments Norm tries out on TV appearances.It is still Norm’s stand-up which is his pure gift. His 2011 Comedy Special “Me Doing Stand-up” was hailed by The Guardian as one of the best Stand-up Specials of all time and Comedy Central name him in their top 100 comedians of all time. Norm retires all material he has used on specials and guarantees that no two shows will ever be identical. If you know Norm Macdonald, but do not know his stand-up, you do not know him. He is a stand-up comedian who must be seen to be believed.

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In a rare evening program, multimedia artist Martha Rosler, currently the subject of a major retrospective at the Jewish Museum in New York, discusses her practice with the Gallery's James

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In a rare evening program, multimedia artist Martha Rosler, currently the subject of a major retrospective at the Jewish Museum in New York, discusses her practice with the Gallery’s James Meyer, curator of art, 1945–1974. The program will be streamed live at nga.gov/live.

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The first Houses release in five years, Drugstore Heaven, marks a major artistic shift for L.A.-based songwriter/producer Dexter Tortoriello. Abandoning the heady concepts of his previous records for some

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The first Houses release in five years, Drugstore Heaven, marks a major artistic shift for L.A.-based songwriter/producer Dexter Tortoriello. Abandoning the heady concepts of his previous records for some of his tightest songwriting yet, Tortoriello is embracing the most fascinating character in his musical universe: himself.In 2010, Houses released their full-length debut All Night via Lefse Records — a Portland, Oregon-based label who signed the band two weeks after Tortoriello shared the project’s first single via Tumblr. The following year, Diplo tracked him down after finding his more darkly-charged project Dawn Golden on Bandcamp. In addition to signing Dawn Golden to Mad Decent, Diplo began bringing Tortoriello into co-writing sessions, which soon led to his work as a writer/featured vocalist for such artists as Martin Garrix, Ryan Hemsworth, and What So Not.

The past five years have been undeniably busy for Tortoriello. After relocating from Chicago to LA, he released Houses’ sophomore album A Quiet Darkness via Downtown Records in 2013, along with a debut full-length as Dawn Golden the following spring. A slate of high-profile remixes for Major Lazer, Kings of Leon and Odesza established him as a dance world heavyweight, while writing and producing for artists like Lil Yachty, Kali Uchis, and Kiiara refined his songcraft. And while he initially compartmentalized his creative efforts, Drugstore Heaven finds him drawing from these experiences, creating Houses’ most fully realized and complexly detailed output to date – a selection of songs matching graceful experimentation with raw emotion and unprecedented vulnerability.

“All of the Houses material to date has been very escapist,” Tortoriello says. “You can fall into a spell where real life is something you tune in and out of, something you feel no authorship over. I’ve focused my efforts over the last few years on building and reinforcing things I don’t wish to escape from: relationships, groups, creative outlets, ideas, workflows. I found a much deeper type of freedom in taking ownership over my life and committing myself to really living it.”

Drugstore Heaven delivers a dynamically textured sound partly shaped by Tortoriello’s exploration of rave and drum-and-bass artists from the late ’90s. “At the time all that stuff was coming out, electronic music was just being discovered, so there was this really pioneering sense of what was possible,” he says. The lead single “Fast Talk,” featuring backing vocals of longtime Houses member Megan Messina, unfolds in hazy rhythms formed from chopped-up breakbeats and live percussion from timpani, glockenspiel, and a couple bottles of antidepressant medication. “That song is meant to be a memorial for a group of friends I had back in my late teens,” explains Tortoriello, adding, “Thematically it’s almost like a ballet where you keep driving around the same blocks, and people start disappearing from the car because they’re going to jail or dying.”

Growing up outside Chicago, Tortoriello first started making music in his early teens, mostly by attempting to emulate the drum-and-bass-meets-speed-metal freakouts of Atari Teenage Riot. (“I’d record myself playing drums onto cassette, then double-speed the tape and play synthesizers over it,” he recalls. “It was an abomination.”). Sonic references to his teenage experimentation make melancholic rave workout “Years” all the more poignant, as Tortoriello examines the anxiety of ageing and the ennui of early adulthood in his lyrics.

On Drugstore Heaven, embracing the personal also has its joyful side. The EP’s punchiest moment, “Left Alone,” emerges as bright and bouncy anthem celebrating the bliss of solitude, while closer “Pink Honey” is a lavishly romantic number built on ethereal vocals, delicate guitar tones, and luminous synth. “I was trying to turn that one into a sweeping love song, like something out of Casablanca,” says Tortoriello.

For Tortoriello, the deepest achievement of Drugstore Heaven lies in building a body of work that feels entirely true to the world in his head. “In the past I’ve felt self-conscious about the person I put forth in my music, but these songs feel very reflective of who I really am,” he says. Being this open still feels new to him, but for the listener, it’s a rewarding glimpse into the mind of a vital and forward-thinking artist.

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The Comet is Coming is the soundtrack to an imagined apocalypse. In the aftermath of widespread sonic destruction what sounds remain? Who will lead the survivors to new sound worlds?

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The Comet is Coming is the soundtrack to an imagined apocalypse. In the aftermath of widespread sonic destruction what sounds remain? Who will lead the survivors to new sound worlds? Who will chart the new frontier?

In a warehouse somewhere in London 2013 a meeting would take place between three musical cosmonauts. They would pool their energies to build a vessel powerful enough to transport any party into outer space. King Shabaka (Sons of Kemet, Melt Yourself Down), Danalogue and Betamax (Soccer96).

Together they chart a path based on the encoded language of Sun Ra, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix and the BBC Radiophonic Workshops from which the band’s name emerged.

It is after the end of the world, the stage is a spacecraft, the mic is an accelerator. brace yourself for The Comet is Coming.

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There’s a great scene in The Last Waltz – the documentary about The Band’s final concert – where director Martin Scorsese is discussing music with drummer/singer/mandolin player Levon Helm. Helm

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There’s a great scene in The Last Waltz – the documentary about The Band’s final concert – where director Martin Scorsese is discussing music with drummer/singer/mandolin player Levon Helm. Helm says, “If it mixes with rhythm, and if it dances, then you’ve got a great combination of all those different kinds of music: country, bluegrass, blues music, show music…”To which Scorsese, the inquisitive interviewer, asks, “What’s it called, then?”“Rock & roll!”Clearly looking for a more specific answer, but realizing that he isn’t going to get one, Marty laughs. “Rock & roll…”Well, that’s the way it is sometimes: musicians play music, and don’t necessarily worry about where it gets filed. It’s the writers, record labels, managers, etc., who tend to fret about what “kind” of music it is.And like The Band, the members of Railroad Earth aren’t losing sleep about what “kind” of music they play – they just play it. When they started out in 2001, they were a bunch of guys interested in playing acoustic instruments together. As Railroad Earth violin/vocalist Tim Carbone recalls, “All of us had been playing in various projects for years, and many of us had played together in different projects. But this time, we found ourselves all available at the same time.”Songwriter/lead vocalist Todd Sheaffer continues, “When we started, we only loosely had the idea of getting together and playing some music. It started that informally; just getting together and doing some picking and playing. Over a couple of month period, we started working on some original songs, as well as playing some covers that we thought would be fun to play.” Shortly thereafter, they took five songs from their budding repertoire into a studio and knocked out a demo in just two days. Their soon-to-be manager sent that demo to a few festivals, and – to the band’s surprise – they were booked at the prestigious Telluride Bluegrass Festival before they’d even played their first gig. This prompted them to quickly go in and record five more songs; the ten combined tracks of which made up their debut album, “The Black Bear Sessions.”That was the beginning of Railroad Earth’s journey: since those early days, they’ve gone on to release five more critically acclaimed studio albums and one hugely popular live one called, “Elko.” They’ve also amassed a huge and loyal fanbase who turn up to support them in every corner of the country, and often take advantage of the band’s liberal taping and photo policy. But Railroad Earth bristle at the notion of being lumped into any one “scene.” Not out of animosity for any other artists: it’s just that they don’t find the labels very useful. As Carbone points out, “We use unique acoustic instrumentation, but we’re definitely not a bluegrass or country band, which sometimes leaves music writers confused as to how to categorize us. We’re essentially playing rock on acoustic instruments.”Ultimately, Railroad Earth’s music is driven by the remarkable songs of front-man, Todd Sheaffer, and is delivered with seamless arrangements and superb musicianship courtesy of all six band members. As mandolin/bouzouki player John Skehan points out, “Our M.O. has always been that we can improvise all day long, but we only do it in service to the song. There are a lot of songs that, when we play them live, we adhere to the arrangement from the record. And other songs, in the nature and the spirit of the song, everyone knows we can kind of take flight on them.” Sheaffer continues: “The songs are our focus, our focal point; it all starts right there. Anything else just comments on the songs and gives them color. Some songs are more open than others. They ‘want’ to be approached that way – where we can explore and trade musical ideas and open them up to different territories. But sometimes it is what the song is about.”So: they can jam with the best of them and they have some bluegrass influences, but they use drums and amplifiers (somewhat taboo in the bluegrass world). What kind of music is it then? Mandolin/vocalist John Skehan offers this semi-descriptive term: “I always describe it as a string band, but an amplified string band with drums.” Tim Carbone takes a swing: “We’re a Country & Eastern band! ” Todd Sheaffer offers “A souped-up string band? I don’t know. I’m not good at this.” Or, as a great drummer/singer/mandolin player with an appreciation for Americana once said: “Rock & roll!”

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Elizabeth Alexander and Manthia Diawara in person

Two artists — painter Ficre Ghebreyesus (1962 – 2012) from Asmara in Eritrea and filmmaker Manthia Diawara from Bamako in Mali — meet metaphorically in this program focusing on their work. Political refugees, activists, scholars, artists, and storytellers, both men settled in the United States and found themselves working odd jobs, joining the African American community of poets, and hunkering down within their own artistic practice. Ficre Ghebreyesus’s epic painting The Sardine Fisherman’s Funeral centers on the abebuu adekai, the figurative coffin of the Ga people in Ghana, replete with symbols, historical references, and Eritrean iconography expressing a depth of feeling for the power of the sea. Manthia Diawara’s film An Opera of the World (2017), based on the African opera Bintou Were, mines the Malian filmmaker’s own migration experience against the backdrop of recent tragedies on the Mediterranean Sea. Diawara’s film features contemporary philosophers and employs footage of refugees in exodus, probing cinema’s power to bear witness. Manthia Diawara and Elizabeth Alexander — poet, essayist, playwright, scholar, and president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation — discuss and contrast both of these works (Ghebreyesus’s painting and Diawara’s film) following the screening. (Approximately 100 minutes)